So They Can Tell We Are His Disciples

             “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

 

            Today, let’s look at this whole idea of loving one another from another perspective. I don’t know if I’ve suggested this before, but my day today combined with this verse equals, leads my mind in this direction. Currently, I have something going on every day of the week except Tuesdays. I haven’t had a chance to go to the parks that I have gone to over the past three years, so today, I left the trailer around 7:45 and got home at 4. Now it’s after 6 pm and I’m just getting started on my blog for tomorrow morning, the daily chores aren’t done and let’s just say Grace is glad I’m back. There’s not a reason in the world why I shouldn’t have gone on this daytrip. I had a great time. I got 169 pictures, some of which have already been processed.

            So how does all of that perfectly reasonable fun day combine in my mind with the command to love one another? In a word: guilt. I went out, spent a little money,  listened almost to the end of a novel on CD, enjoyed myself… I can’t quite bring myself to say I had fun because I think my idea of your idea of fun is skewed. Or maybe it’s my idea of fun that’s skewed. Or, maybe it’s just that saying I had fun would increase the guilt level. Maybe one way to think of it is the guilt associated with the martyr complex. I’m not allowed to enjoy myself, have fun, or do much of what I’ve been doing for the past three years because I’m supposed to be being good, being dutiful, etc. You see, “loving others” is a serious, important task and we’re never supposed take our eyes from the prize of doing that good thing of caring for others. Heaven forbid we do something selfish like take a day trip, or doing most of what I’ve done in the past three years.

        The logical side of my mind kicks in with, “Well, Jesus withdrew to pray, and withdrew with his disciples to quiet places…” And that would be an acceptable response if my time had been spent in prayer. But the point of all this is that doing something like I did today tends to produce a case of the guilts. And I suspect I’m not alone.

            So, I want to return to a basic notion. One way to say it is that we can’t give to others if we’re empty. And most of us would be quick to say something like that to someone else…but not to ourselves. We can go a little further or a little longer. What I’m getting at is that for them to know we are disciples of Christ by our love for one another, we need to love one another, and we can’t love one another when we are weak. Dallas Willard wrote about taking naps as a spiritual thing. Exercising strengthens us so that we can love. Eating right is part of loving others. Cleaning your home, learning to cook, even picking up a new hobby – all of those may improve your service to others, give you connections with others, and give you the strength you need to lend it to someone else.

            None of this is meant as a justification to be selfish or to run from responsibility. It’s the idea that we love best if we are at our best – so let the self-improvement and self-care resume so they can tell we are His disciples.